Package-binding implement



Aug. 23,1921, VRAGONA 1,639,896

PACKAGE BINDING IMPLEMENT Filed Sept. 19 1922 3 Sheets-Sheet 1' V. RAGONA PACKAGE BINDING IMPLEMENT 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 19, 1922 Aug. 23, 192?.

v. RAGONA PACKAGE BINDING IMPLEMENT Filed Sept. 19, 1922 She'ecs-Sheet 3 Patented Aug. 23, 1927.

sense sra' israrssr orrice.

VINCENT RAGONA, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 CARY MANUFACTURING 00., OF BROOKLYN, NEVJ YORK, A CORFOBA'I'ION OFjNEW YORK.

PACKAGE-BINDING IMPLEMENT.

Application filed September 19, 1922, Serial No. 589,150.

This invention is an implement for applying a wire binder to shipping packages'of various forms.

In this art it is required that a Wire be applied initially under tension to the package, and while under such tension, it is re quired, further, that the end portions of the wire be locked or fastened, It is desirable to tension the wire binder so tightly around the package as to embed said wire in the cor ners of the package, whereby the wire binder increases the stability of the package, and the wire itself is precluded from movement upon or relatively to the package to avoid the requirement of using staples, or other fasteners, for holding the wire in place. Furthermore, it is desirable to lo k or fasten the end port-ions of the binder by twisting said meeting end portions together.

The object of this invention is to perform he operations of tensioning and of locking e wire binder by or through the instrumentality of a single operating member, thereby facilitating the desired application of the binder to the package and simplifying the structure of the implement.

Stated broadly, the implement of this in vention embodies a single opera-ting member positioned for convenient access to the workmen, a suitable tension means, a suitable twisting means, and a train of gears controllable in a manner -for one of said gears to actuate the tension means and for another of said gears to rotate the twisting means, said gear train being actuated by or from the single operating member.

Gther functions and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure l is a plain view of the implement in operative position upon a package and ila rating the wire binder prior to theapplion of tension thereto.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional. elevation taken in the plane indicated by the dotted line 22 of Figure 1.

Figures 8 and i are vertical cross sections, partly in elevation, the plane of the respecive sections being indicated by the dotted lines o3 and l4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is detail sectional view, partly in elevation, illustrating the movable part of one form of a suitable wire tensioning means.

Figure 6 is a plan view of a wire binder subsequent to its application to a package.

Figure 7- is a detail view of one of the re tainers used for holding apreformed deformed wire.

' The implement of my invention is shown being adapted for use in connection with a shouldered wire binder, X shown in Figures 1 and 6, said wire being preformed and deformed in one way or another to produce the shoulder 0: adjacent the end portion of the wire, and said wire being out to a length suitable to be passedaround the package Y, in a manner for the end portions of said p DlDClGl' to overlap sumclently for the per P rorn'la-nce of the operation of twisting together, as at y, said end portions to there by lock or fasten the wire into tight engagement with the package. The wire in the present instance is deformed by a swaging operation which is performed upon the wire at the time it 1s drawn from a reel or coil, straightened, and cut tolengths, such treatment of the wire taking place before it is to be used for binding purposes; in fact, the wire is prepared, bundled in quantities, and shipped to the consumer so as to be available for useby said consumer without further treatment or manipulation other than that manipulation accorded to the wire by the implement in applying said wire to the pack The deformation of the wire heret re alluded to is for the double purpose of producing the shoulder a; thereon and of changing the cross sectional contour of said wire 2:-

so as to re :ult in a flattened portion m adapted to serve as key in order to facilitate the intr duction of an end portion of the wire into a. recess d member A of the machine,

whereby the shouldered and key formed poring engagement and suitably fastened together. The housing is shown as having a "lat under face or bottomc'and as being proided with a forwardly extending member the upper face 0 of which slopes toward a horizontal slot C, the latter being provided in the members i), l) oi the housing.

is adapted to be introduced into the plate A for the purpose of anchoring the wire at one end on the housing or frame of the implement, as a result of which the strain on the wire when tension is applied thereto is taken up by the shoulder in abutting co tact with said plate A, so that the shoulder holds the wire from slipping with respect to the machine in the operation of tensioning said wire.

V D is a plate fixed to the opposite side of the housing from plate A, see Figs. land l. This plate D is provided with a recess d, and said plate is in fixed relation to the housing for the recess d therein to be in alinement with slot C of the housing and with the recess heretofore mentioned as be ing provided in retaining plate A. The two recessed plates A, 13,-fixed to the housing, and the slot C in saidhousing itself, accommodate the lapping end portions of the binder wire, when said wire is passed around the package, see dottedlines in Fig. 1, and said plates A, B, hold or retain the lapping portions of the wire from relative movement at two points during the operation of twisting said wire at 9 by the rotative movement of a twister gear E, see Fig. 3. The-slot d in plate D, and a corresponding slot in plate A, are suiiciently wide to receive the wire, but the width of said slots is less than twice the diameter oi the wire, so that the two end portions of the wire when positioned in the slots of the plates A D are held by said plates from turning one around the other w ion the wire is twisted by the rotation of twister gear E, although it is to be noted that the slots in plates A, D permit the wire to slide endwise with freedom in the operation of pulling said wire to impart the de sired tension to the wire prior to the twisting together of said wire by the rotation of the twister gear.

As shown, the housing members 6, b are recessed at e to accommodate the twister gear which. is mounted for tree rotation in said housing, and this twister gear E is provided as usual with a radial slot 0 for the reception of the lapping portions of the wire.

Cooperating with the twister gear E is an intermediate gear F, the shaft 7" of which is journaled in housing B, and this gear F is adapted to be rotated at the required time for the operation of the twister gear by a a G, constituting one of a train of gears cooperable with tensicnin'g means and with the twisting means in a manner tonnpart movement from a single operating part to both. said tensionmg means and O I u l same being ournaled 1n appropriate bearings nous inventi in the particular embodiment of a depicted in the drawings, the i ating shaft '1 shdable in the housing, and said housing is chambered at'z' tor the accommodation oi the power transmitter gear-G so as to encase said gear and to permit it to have the desired sliding movement within said housing, said gear being fixedly secured to shatt H for rotative and sliding movei'nent there with. I gear G, shown in Fig. 2, sail gear is free from the intermediate gear F hence the re tation of shaft H and its gear G will have no effect upon gea and the twister E, but,

a sliding movement of shaft H to the left in Fig. 2 brings gear G into mesh with gear F, so that a rotative movement of shattll will operate to turn the gear G which in turn imparts rotative motion to the twister through the action of intermediate gear F,

Various forms of wire tensioning means may be employed for pulling said wire to impart the required tension thereto, but in the drawings there is shown one kind of tension device for pulling the wire around the package when one end of said wire is anchored in the retaining plate A of the implement frame, said tensioning means being actuatable by gears J, K, constituting other pted to be controlled and actuated by it sri'igle operating member, the latter belng the deit provided in "the members Z), 5 of the In one position of the shaft H and is rotatable and ice tion Z and journaled in a hearing as at Z .(see Fig. for free rotation in the housing; said screw spindle being horizontally positioned and arranged below the operating shaft H, and disposed so as to extend a desired distance from one side of housing B.

Cooperating with the screw spindle is a tension head, herein shown as a slidable traveler M, the latter being positioned alongside the housing B and adapted for movement toward and from said housing, later.- ally with respect thereto. Said traveler is shown as having an upstanding perforated lug m and an aperture m, said lug being tted loosely on the operating shaft'H, and said aperture m loosely receiving a guide rod m whereby the shaft H and rod m serve as means for directing or guiding the raveler to movement in a rectilinear path with respect to thehousing. The rod m is fixed to the housing in a suitable manner,

so that it is parallel to the screw spindle and to the operating shaft. Said traveler is provided, also, with a recess a and it is pierced for the loose reception of the-screw spindle, the latter passing through the traveler intermediate the ends of the latter. The traveler carries a half nut N, pivoted by loosely fitting the same on the guide rod m see Fig. 5, and atthe free end of the half nut is a latch n controllable by a knob 91 and adapted for locking engagement with said traveler so as to retain the threaded portion n of said half nut into threaded engagement with the screw part of the spindle,

- whereby the rotative motion of the spindle communicates sliding movement to the traveler.

For quickly returning the traveler to a normal position adjacent the housing after the wire shall have been tensioned, cut, and twisted, the operator disengages the latch 12 and lifts the half nut from contact with the screw spindle, whereupon a spring N acts on the upwardly extending lug m of the traveler to press the latter toward the housing, said spring N being loosely fitted on the shaft *1 for one end of the spring to engage with the extension m of said traveler. To provide for the fixed attachment of the wire to the traveler, suitable means are used on said traveler forengagement with the wire. As shown, the traveler is provided at one end with a shoulder 0, in wiich is provided a notch 0 and to which is attached a post 0. One end portion of the wire is conducted out of the twistenthrough plate D, and bent upwardly around shoulder 0, and in the notch thereof, the wire being twisted around post 0, see Fig. 1, so as to anchor said wire in fixed engagement with the traveler.

For cutting the wire subsequently'to the operations of tensioning and twisting the same, a cutter in the form of a lever P is see Fig. 2, (gear G being out of mesh with positioned alongside of slotted plate D and in cooperative relation thereto. Said lever is fulcrumed on a stud p'fixed to housing B, and as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4, the lower end portion of the cutter lever is notched at p, to straddle one strand of the wire, whereas the cutting edge of the lever P is adapted in the operation of the lever to sever the other strand of the wire i. e., that strand which is anchored to the traveler. T he cutter lever is thus limited in its action to severing one length of the wire and at a point close to the twist y in said wire, thus avoiding the formation of an outstanding cut end of the wire, see Fig. 6. The cutter lever extends upwardly from the pivotal. stud p, and to this upper end is connected a spring g, acting to hold'the lever out of the path of the two strands of wire. Said cutter lever is in the path of a cam arm Q, fixed to the shaft 7 of the twister actuating gear F, and as said twister E is rotated to twist the wire at 3 the cam arm impinges the cutter lever so as to force it into contact with one strand of the wire with sutlicientforce to cut through the wire and to thus release the wire from the twister.

The operation may be described as follows :The implement is placed upon the package with sufiicient space between one side of said package and the crank it, after which the deformed and shouldered portions of a wire is introduced into the retaining plate A, so as to anchor one end of said wire on the machine frame. The wire is led into the slot 6 of the twister and slot (Z of the plate D, and then the wire is passed around the package, the free end of said wire being passed through the slot of plate A, the slot of twister E, and the slot of plate D, and

finally the wire is bent upwardly into notch 0 and fastened around the post 0. The

' operator now grasps crank it and shifts the shaft H for the gear J to mesh with gear K,

gear F) and the shaft H then rotated by turning crank it, the effect of which is to impart rotative motion to the spindle l; through the gears J, K. The screw spindle imparts sliding motion to the traveler, the latter pulling on the wire, one end of which is attached to said traveler and the other end of which wire is anchored on tie frame housing of retainer Aj The crank it is turned a number of times until suiiicient tension is applied to the wire, and then the operator slides the shaft H so as to disengage gear J from gear I: Fig. 1) and positions gear G in mesh with gear F (see Fig. 3), the screw L operating at this time to hold the traveler against movement and thereby retainthe wire under tension around the package. The operator now 'turns'the crank, it and shaft H for the gears G, F to impart rotative motion to the twister E, and

as the two end portions of the wire are held by the plates A, D from turning, the twister E operates to twist together the two ends of the wire at 1 between the plates A, D. As

the twister makes the required number of from contactwith the wire and the package,

and the spring N acts to return the twister to its normal position relatively to the housing B, and the shaft H. is adjusted by slid ing it in the housin to bring the gear J into mesh with the gear K, so as to place the implement in condition for operation upon another wire.

In my machine the single power member and the power transmitting gears operate to impart movement first to the tensioning means and thereafter to the twisting means, and in the interval between the operations of the tensioning means and the twisting means by the movement of the power member, said power transmitting gears are controilable, preferably by a sliding movement of the power member, so as to shift said ears out of operative relation to the tensioning. means and into a similar relation to the twisting means. Thus there takes place a gear shift, operated manually between the operations of the tensioning means and the twisting means, or vice versa, and both said means (tensioning and twisting) are operated separately from and by the single power member acting through the power transmitting l means.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a wire tying device, the combination with a twister pinion, and a tensioning member, of a shaft provided with a gear, means actuated by the shaft to impart sliding move ment to said tensioning member, a rotatable and slidable operating shaft, a gear fast with the operating shaft and movable by the sliding'movement there-of into and out of mesh with said gear on first named shaft, and a second gear fast with said operating shaft and movable by the sliding movement thereof into and out of service relation to said twister pinion, whereby the operating shaft is adapted in one position for actuating the twister pinion and in another of its positions to impart movement to the tensioning member.

2. Ina wire tying device, the combination with a twister pinion, of wire tensioning means including a plurality of members one of which is fixed and the other of which is slidable. relatively to said fixed member, a shaft having means for imparting movement to said slidable member of thetensioning means, a gear on said shaft, a rotatable and slidable operating shaft, a gear on said op'er ating shaft and movable by the sliding-movement thereof into and out of mesh with the gear on the first named shaft, and another gear also fast with the operating shaft and movable by the sliding movement thereof into and out of service relation tothe twister pinion. r r

3. in a wire tying ClGVlCe, the combination with a twister pinion, of wire tensioning means including a plurality of membersvone of which is fixed and the other of which is slidable relatively to said iii-zed member, a screw shaft cooperating with the slidable member of said tensioning means for imparting motion thereto, a slidable and'rotat- .cluding a plurality of members one of which is fixed and the other of which is slidable relatively to said fixed member, of a slidable and rotatable operating shaft, means actuated by said operating shaft when shifted to one position for imparting a sliding motion to the slidable tension member, and other means. actuated by said operating shaft when l shifted into a second position for imparting rot-ative motion to the twister pinion.

5. In a wire tying device, the combination with a twister pinion, of tension means including sliding member and a fixed'memher having means for anchoring a deformed part of a wire to be tensioned, a sliding and rotating operating shaft adapted by the sliding motion thereof to be shift l to either of two operating positions, ineactuated by said operating shaft when in one of its positions for imparting irwe nent to the sliding tension member, and other means actuated by the operating when oecupying the other of its operating positions for impartingrotative movement to said twister pinion.

6. In a wire tying device, the combination with a twister pinion, of a tension means including a plurality of members one of'which is slidable, a screw shaft, means actuated by the screw shaft for imparting movement to the slidable tensionmember, a sliding and rotating operating. shaft, and a plurality of gears whereby the operating shaft imparts rotatlve motion alternately to the screw shaft and to the twister pinion; w

7. In a wire tying device, the combination with a twister pinion, of a tension means including a plurality of members one of which is sliclable, a screw shaft, a member pivoted to the slidable tension-member and engageable with the screw shaft, a sliding and r0- tating operating shaft, and gears whereby the operating shaft is adapted to impart rotative motion alternately to the screw shaft and to the twister pinion.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name, at the State of New York, this eighteenth clay of September, 1922.

. VINCENT RAGONA. 

